Columns are widely used in both residential and commercial buildings. Until recently, most columns used in residential construction have been made from wood. Molded columns, however, have some advantages over traditional wood columns and have been gaining in popularity. Some of the advantages of molded columns include lower costs, a wider variety of designs, and improved structural strength.
One technique for making molded columns is centrifugal molding. A viscous resin material is poured into an elongated mold having two parts. The mold is spun at high speed to force the molding material against the inner surface of the mold. When the molding material has set, the mold is opened and the column is removed. Typically, a two-part mold is used that leaves two longitudinally extending seam lines or ridges on the column where the mold separates. Therefore, the surface of the column needs to be sanded to remove the seam lines.
The conventional centrifugal molding process is labor intensive and consumes considerable space to manufacture enough components for commercial operations. Both of these factors increase the cost of manufacturing the columns. Therefore, there is a need for further improvements in the column manufacturing process to reduce the amount of labor and space needed for commercial production.